Infinity
by No. 42
Summary: Slight AU. Shadow must cope with painful memories of the ARK, but when a strange individual says he can bring back Maria, Shadow can't refuse. ShadMaria. Slow start. My first fic. No flames. Chapter 6 is up. Please review.
1. A walk in the park

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot.**

**Station Square**

**11:00 PM**

**Sunday**

A dark figure moved slowly through the dark park. It came to stop near a bench near the very center of Station Square's Central Park. A cloud in the sky shifted with the wind, and the moon's light shone upon the park.

It also revealed that the figure was a black hedgehog, with red stripes lining the quills on his head, some of which bent upwards. It had white fur on its chest, and wore white gloves and shoes. Its shape was typical of an anthropomorphic hedgehog. His name was Shadow the Hedgehog.

He sat on the bench and stared up into the night sky. His eyes came to rest upon a small dark speck in the sky, one he knew all to well. That small, insignificant speck was the Space Colony ARK, or at least what was left of it. Then he started to remember. And as memories of that place began to flood his mind, one stood out.

"Maria...," he muttered to himself. Even though the event had happened more than 50 years ago, he could still feel the pain fresh in his mind, the agony of losing the one person who truly cared about him, the anger at those who took her away from him, helplessness at not being able to stop them. Shadow clenched his fists, and looked at his feet. He relaxed his hands, and realized that nothing he did could bring her back.

Shadow stood up from the bench, and began walking off into the trees, his head hung low. He leaned up against a tree, and stood there for a few minutes. He looked up at the sky for the second time that night, and saw that dark speck still in the sky. He sighed. It was really late, and anyone else would have already gone to bed. But Shadow could stick it out that night and just sleep the next day.

He got off the tree and began a walk around the park. Since it was late, no one would be around, be force of habit kept him in the shadows of the trees. During his walk, Shadow began thinking about Maria again. He felt a twinge of pain in his heart for doing so. He zoned out as he remembered all he knew about here, and ran into a tree.

He yelped and cursed at himself for walking blindly into it, then continued his walk. After a few more minutes, he heard voices.

He hid in the bushes, even though the voices sounded distant. He did not want to be found by a couple of tourists in the park. However, he thought he could recognize the voices. Looking out from his hiding place, he could see a small, yellow fox with white gloves, running shoes and, strangely, two tails. The fox stood with a small rabbit with light brown, almost cream, fur, two very large ears, and a school dress.

_What the hell are Tails and Cream doing here? _Shadow thought to himself, though he already knew. The fox and rabbit leaned toward each other and kissed passionately, then broke off. They giggled and talked to each other for a while before leaving the park.

Shadow curled up into a ball inside the bush. No one would find him there, and he realized that he was sleepy from his late night excursion. He dozed off inside the bush.

* * *

**A/N: Next chapter will be longer.  
**


	2. Mondays really suck

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot. Everything else is copyright to its respective owners.**

**A/N: And just like that, Infinity: Ch.2 is up. This one is much longer. :)**

**Station Square**

**9:00 AM**

**Monday**

In a bush in Station Square's Central Park, a figure stirred. A figure stood next to the bush, as if waiting for something to come out. The standing figure was another anthro hedgehog, this time blue with slicked down quills, the same white gloves, and red running shoes. In his gloved hands, he held a small bag. His name was Sonic the Hedgehog.

After a few moments, Sonic bent to peer into the bush. He snickered at the sight of Shadow snoring in the depths of the bush. However, Sonic's movements had been enough to wake the other hedgehog. Within moments, Sonic was face-to-face with an angry black hedgehog. He grinned sheepishly and said, "Uh, mornin' Shadow. Amy, uh, made you some breakfast. She thought you would like it."

Shadow sighed, and took the bag, but not without muttering a few curses under his breath. He stood from the foliage, and took a few steps before he heard Sonic's voice calling out.

"Hey, Shadow! I just remembered, Amy's birthday is next week. Wanna come?"

Shadow grunted. "Why would _I _want to go?"

"Well, Amy really wants you to come," Sonic responded.

Shadow just sighed again and opened the bag. In it he found a sandwich, apparently containing tuna, mayonnaise, and cheese. He looked at the sandwich, opened it, and took off the cheese.

"Hey Shadow, how come you don't like cheese?" Sonic asked.

"Because I don't," Shadow answered.

Sonic thought about this for a moment, and the expression on his face changed to one of someone who had just thought up an idea. Shadow noticed this, groaned aloud, closed his eyes, and put his head in his hands. And when Sonic had barely opened his mouth to sing a song he knew, Shadow cried out.

"SHUT UP!"

Sonic was not very surprised by Shadow's response. He stood up. "Well, Shadow, I'll see you at the party next week," he said.

Shadow began feeling the usual frustration with Sonic. "I told you, I'm not coming!"

"No, you asked why you should come."

"Well, I'm not going," Shadow said.

"Like you've got anything better to do," Sonic countered while rolling his eyes.

Shadow opened his eyes and stood up. Sometimes, he really wished he could just tear Sonic apart in public. But that wouldn't be a very smart thing to do in public, now, was it?

"Like I said, I'll see you at the party," Sonic said. Before Shadow could respond, he was ran off, leaving a dust trail behind him. Shadow sighed. He really hated that faker.

* * *

**Station Square, Dark Alley**

**1:30 PM**

**Monday**

Shadow walked in a dark alley in a dark part of Station Square. He was wearing a trench coat and hat, which covered him enough so that he couldn't be recognized. He leaned against a large steel dumpster and looked around.

Filthy. The place was just filthy. Concrete walls rose up on both sides of the alley, the bottoms of which were covered in dirt and grime, plus whatever else was there. As Shadow pulled away from the dumpster, something gooey and sticky clung to the back of his coat. He was disgusted. _At least I'm alone_, he thought to himself.

He was wrong.

Upon closer inspection, he noticed one shadow across from him stood out from the rest of the alley. As if noticing Shadow looking at it, the thing pulled away from the shadows and into a lighter part of the alley. The thing was a purple furred weasel, with a white muzzle, brown gloves and boots, a belt, and a brown fedora hat. Noticing Shadow's confused expression, the weasel spoke up.

"Hello. The name's Nack the Weasel, but you can call me Fang. I'm here to collect the bounty on your head."

A bounty hunter? Why was there a price on Shadow's head? Shadow had barely begun to think about the situation when he realized what it all meant.

"So you're here to kill me?" Shadow inquired.

"Of course. GUN wants you dead."

GUN? Now it made sense. The military probably wanted to make up for its earlier mistakes by killing the one that had caused them all so many problems. And here was the one to do it, a weasel with a cowboy outfit. How typically incompetent of them. But he had to admit, the look of greed in his eyes and the gun holster on his belt made him look like a tough enemy. And without a Chaos Emerald, Shadow wouldn't be able to win any battles here. He had to somehow get Nack on his side, and he knew just how to do it.

"Well, Nack, how much is GUN offering you?"

Nack thought about this for a moment. "Well... they didn't really say exactly, but--"

"Then how do you know that they'll even pay you?" Shadow asked.

"Well-- wait a minute, I know what you're doing! You're trying to scam me out of my money!" Nack exclaimed.

"Fine, then. But don't say I didn't warn you when they don't give you your paycheck."

"Bu... De... Uh... Oh, all right! I'll give up the bounty!" Nack concluded. "But only if you give _me_ something in return."

"Like what?" Shadow asked.

Nack thought about it for a moment. After a while, he said, "Well, my hoverbike needs a new handlebar. There might be something up in that dumpster over there." He pointed at the dumpster that Shadow had been leaning against earlier. "Look for something similar to bike handlebars. Actually, those might work too..."

Shadow looked at the dumpster and remembered the gooey, sticky substance that had stuck to his jacket earlier. "You can't be serious...," he said.

"Well, then I guess I'll have to put a few bullets through your skull," Nack said.

Shadow groaned and climbed into the dumpster. "Jeez...," he muttered to himself as he looked for the handlebars. After some searching through several unsightly things that people had thrown out, Shadow's dumpster diving finally paid off: directly in front of him was a pair of slightly banged up handlebars. Grabbing the item, jumped out of the dumpster and landed next to an impatient Nack.

"Jeez, what took you so long?" Nack said impatiently.

"Here. Take it and go." Shadow thrust the handlebars into Nack's hands, turned around, and made to leave the alley.

What he didn't know was that all his searching had disturbed a rickety old fire escape directly over the dumpster. Finally being not able to support itself, the metal stairs groaned and finally fell... right on top of Nack and Shadow.

When the fire escape hit him, Shadow could see darkness come at him like fog rolling on the ocean. Unlike fog, it him like an 18-wheeler. He was in...

Dark.


	3. The Dream

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but most of, if not all of, the plot. Everything else is copyright and subject to their respective owners.**

**A/N: This is the next installment of Infinity, with some parts inspired by the game made for the Hitchhiker's Guide. A bit short, though.  
**

**Dark**

**Unknown Time**

**Unknown Day**

He was in darkness. He couldn't see, hear, taste, or feel anything. So he smelled.

He immediately regretted it when a horrible stench came to him. A horrible, familiar stench. _Smelling salts?_ he thought to himself. He hadn't even remembered who he was, and had no idea where he was. Then, as if a light bulb had turned on in his brain, he began to remember.

He was Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate Life Form, knocked out when a fire escape fell on him in a dark alley. Then he began to remember farther back, and felt a familiar twinge of emotional pain. _Maria..._

Shadow stirred and opened his eyes. He groaned slightly and tried to get up several times, failing all of them. Then, after a few more tries, he sat up from where he was laying and took a look around.

He was still in the alley, but apparently it was night now because it was darker and he could see the stars between the buildings. The moon shone brilliantly in the sky from where he saw it. The same dumpster still stood next to him, though apparently had been emptied earlier. He wondered how someone could have missed him when he was right next to the dumpster. Around it, he could still see the mangled wreckage of the fire escape. To his right, Nack the Weasel still lay under the metal, unconscious. And directly in front of him sat a cloaked figure holding a small vile of smelling salts.

"Sorry about the smell, but it was the only way to wake you," the figure said. It spoke in a deep, raspy voice. The figure stood. It was about Shadow's height when he stood. Its cloak was a light brown, with a couple of stains here and there. Its feet and face were completely hidden by the cloak, but its hands were visible in the moonlight. They were slightly wrinkled, but not thin and frail. It might have fit in more at a temple, not a dark alley.

"I guess you're a bit surprised to see someone like me here, aren't you?" he said. (at this point, Shadow was sure it was a male. Human, no less.)

"I... Uh..." Shadow could not find words at the moment, after waking up from being knocked out for several hours. He wasn't sure he could trust this person after only meeting him just now.

"I know what's on your mind. You don't trust me."

_How did he know what I was thinking?_ Shadow thought to himself.

"And you want to know how I know what you are thinking."

This person was starting to creep Shadow out. A person that could read people's thoughts? Who _was _this man?

"Before you do anything impulsive, I want to tell you something. I know how to bring back Maria."

What? How did this man know her name? And how did he know that Shadow wanted to bring her back? _Wait..._, he thought, _if this man knows how to bring back Maria... maybe he _can _help me..._

"All right, then," Shadow said at last, "how?

"You must find the yellow Chaos Emerald."

"Why the yellow one?" Shadow asked.

"Because, Shadow, each Chaos Emerald has a different power," the man explained. "The blue Emerald has the power to give a person incredible strength, the red Emerald can hypnotize people, the green one can teleport, and so on. The one you need, the yellow Emerald, has the power of resurrection. Now, when you find it, you must hold it in your hands and concentrate on who you want to bring back. Not doing this carefully could bring back someone else, or even change the person themselves. So be careful when you find the emerald, Shadow."

"I understand, but I have a question," Shadow said.

"Go along, you ask me," the man said encouragingly.

"Are you real?" Shadow asked.

"Depends on if you count a vision from another world 'real'. But it has been real enough for you, Shadow. Find the Emerald. You can do it; I know you can."

The man began to walk away. As he did so, Shadow heard a whistling sound, similar to an object cutting through the air very fast. As he thought this, Shadow realized that such an object would be dangerous if this wasn't a dream. So he put it off as a minor thing; until, of course, the brick hit him in the head.

Once again, he was in...

Dark.


	4. Time for Action!

**Disclaimer: Same as before**

**A/N: New update. This one's a bit better, or at least I think so. Review so I know if it is. I think I made Nack a bit ooc in the second chapter...**

**Station Square, Alley**

**1:35 AM**

**Tuesday**

Shadow opened his eyes slowly. He felt terrible, undoubtedly because a large fire escape had fallen on him earlier. He looked around the dark alley, hoping to see the cloaked man again. But all he saw was that it was very dark, the moon was in the sky, Nack was still under the wreckage, and his coat still had that sticky substance (which he now suspected to be the remains of food). He tried to stand up, but hit his head on the mangled wreckage of the fire escape. Shadow tried to stand up again, this time more wary of the jutting steel bars.

Nack stirred underneath the wreckage. The purple-furred weasel got to his feet tentatively and immediately received a bruise on his forehead from running into a metal bar in front of his face.

"Watch out," Shadow said indifferently.

Nack growled and mumbled to himself. "Shoulda just killed him when I had the chance... Wait a minute, where's my gun?"

Shadow turned to him. "Oh, you mean this?" He dangled Nack's gun by his finger in front of his face.

"Wha-- Ho-how'd you get my gun?!" Nack exclaimed.

"I've got my ways," Shadow answered. "Now, come on, let's go..."

"Where?! Where the _hell_ are you going to go?! GIVE ME BACK MY GUN!" Nack was practically screaming at this point.

"If you want your gun back, I suggest you help me find what I am looking for: the yellow Chaos Emerald."

Nack stood rooted to the ground. "A _Chaos Emerald_?! What _are_ yougoing to do with a Chaos Emerald?!"

"Just shut up and follow me. I already know where it is, but I'll need some help getting in," Shadow said.

"Oh crap, I know where this is going...," Nack groaned. "Where're we breaking in?"

"The workshop of one Miles Prower," Shadow explained. "You know him?"

"No," Nack said. "Besides, why do you think I know how to break into a building?"

"Because you were the one who suggested I was breaking in," Shadow replied coolly.

"All right, then. So, what's the plan?" Nack questioned.

"I'll think of one on the way there," Shadow said. He began scaling one of the walls enclosing the alley, presumably to get to the roof. Nack groaned again at this and followed Shadow's lead up the wall. After a few minutes of climbing up the bricks of the tall building and grabbing onto ledges for support, the two finally reached the roof's edge. Shadow pulled himself up onto the roof, followed closely by Nack, who was panting heavily by the time he collapsed on the rooftop. Shadow scanned the night until he found what he was looking for: a line of closely packed rooftops pointed directly at the train station. Shadow walked to the edge of the first rooftop and looked down the side to gauge how tall it was. It was _very _tall. They couldn't afford any mistakes on this part of their little trip, no matter how small.

"Okay Nack, here's what we're going to do." Shadow pointed to the buildings. "We'll jump these rooftops over to that train station over there, then we'll jump on top of the train and ride it until we get to the Mystic Ruins. Once there, I'll try to make up more of the plan."

Nack stood up and looked at where Shadow was pointing, then looked down the edge of the building. "You can't be serious," he said at last. "You could've at least let me take us on my bike--"

"No. It would have been too conspicuous. We don't want anyone to know that I'm here," Shadow said. "Now, come on. If we hurry, we can catch the late night express."

Without waiting for Nack, Shadow hopped from the rooftop he was on to the next one in classic movie style. Upon seeing this, Nack quickly coiled his tail up like a spring and used it like one to bounce onto the next rooftop where Shadow waited. Shadow then quickly hopped to the next building, and they continued the cycle until they reached the roof of the train station.

Shadow waited until Nack had caught up to him before speaking. "All right, so now we're going to jump onto the train."

"Won't someone hear us?" Nack asked.

"This is the late night express; hardly anyone's here, and whoever is probably won't hear us," Shadow said.

And just as he said that, a police officer on patrol managed to glance up long enough to see Shadow and Nack on the roof of the station.

"Hey! You!" the human yelled out. He took out a radio and started speaking quickly into it, which was a signal to Nack and Shadow that they had to move fast. The two jumped simultaneously from their position on the roof of the station to the roof of the train, just as it was leaving the station. They both crouched down immediately to make themselves as small as possible to avoid detection by the cop. Undoubtedly, GUN would lead an investigation once they heard of the officer's description of the situation, making it all the more dangerous for Shadow. This was becoming too complicated.

As the last glow of the city's lights faded away into the horizon, Nack and Shadow decided to enter the car they were on. Shadow found a small hatch on the roof, and quickly opened it. Or rather, he unlatched it, and the wind opened it. Once inside, Nack and Shadow took a look around and saw piles of boxes, most likely shipments and mail being sent from people in the city to friends and family in the Mystic Ruins.

Nack took one look around and said, "What a bunch of crap."

Shadow simply moved towards one of the more rounded packages and rested his head against it. They could rest temporarily in the car, but when the train pulled in at the station in the Mystic Ruins, the duo would have to abandon the car quickly. Nack was just looking through boxes, laughing occasionally at some present someone was sending.

As Shadow leaned against the package, the time of night began to catch up with him, and his eyelids started to feel heavy. The last thing he thought about before he dozed off was what he would do with the Emerald when he found it. _Maria..._


	5. En Route

**Disclaimer: Same as before.**

**A/N: Another chapter. Hope this one's an improvement.**

* * *

**Train, en route to Mystic Ruins**

**3:00 AM**

**Tuesday**

Shadow had just started to doze off when he was shaken awake by Nack. After blearily opening his eyes, Shadow looked out the window. It was still dark outside. He stood from where he was lying and looked at Nack. He seemed to be worried about something.

"Shadow, we've got to move, man," Nack whispered quickly. "Some dudes from GUN came and stopped the train. We've got to leave now!"

"Is the roof hatch still open?" Shadow asked.

Nack pointed at the roof. Sure enough, the hatch that they had used to enter the train was still open. The two jumped on the boxes in order to reach the roof, and when they did, the clambered out through the hatch. Seeing a couple of GUN officials near the train, Shadow pulled him and Nack down onto their stomachs, in case the officials looked up. Both creatures lay there, waiting with bated breath until the officials left and the train started moving again. Nack let out a sigh of relief.

"Phew! Good thing those guys don't look to closely, huh Shadow?" Nack said.

Shadow didn't answer. He was more concerned with why the people from GUN had left so quickly. They couldn't have been looking for anything... unless...

"Don't go back in the cabin," Shadow said when he saw Nack moving towards the hatch. "Close it," he said, pointing to the open hatch. "There might be GUN officials still on the train. We don't want to get spotted."

"So now what? We wait until the train gets to the Mystic Ruins, then we abandon ship?" Nack asked.

"Yes," Shadow replied.

And so the two waited for the train to reach the Mystic Ruins. Unfortunately for them, the train stopped again.

"God, how much longer?!" Nack growled under his breath. Shadow was silent; he was observing a group of GUN motorcycles that were left behind by the officials when they boarded the train. They gave him an idea.

"I've got a faster way to get there now, Nack. We steal those motorcycles, then we run like hell," Shadow explained.

"How are we going to steal them without being noticed?" Nack asked.

"Anyone that might see us will be inside the train. They won't be able to do anything."

And so Shadow jumped off the roof of the train and onto the ground. After looking around to make sure the coast was clear, he signaled to Nack to come down. After Nack was on the ground, Shadow walked over to one of the bikes. It still had the key in the slot. _Idiots_, Shadow thought. He mounted the motorcycle and started the engine. Nack quickly jumped onto another bike, and turned on the engine as well. However, at this point, a GUN official had come out of the train. He started yelling, but Shadow and Nack couldn't hear him because they'd gunned it on their motorcycles and had jetted off towards the Mystic Ruins. However, the official was quick to tell his colleagues, and they were soon on their bikes as well, chasing after the two fugitives.

Shadow looked over his shoulder and was surprised to see no less than 5 GUN bikes chasing after him and Nack. He turned back around and urged the motorcycle to go faster. Nack saw this as well and pressed harder on the pedal. The group was approaching a large cluster of trees near the tracks that Shadow decided to use to his advantage. With Nack following close behind, Shadow entered the cluster of trees and began weaving in and out of them. Immediately, Shadow could hear a loud crash behind him that he knew was a GUN soldier.

Shadow sped under a fallen log, and heard a couple of crashes behind him that confirmed that his idea was working. However, after making a sharp turn next to a thick tree, he heard Nack's bike scrape against the trunk and knew that with that much damage it was not going to last very long. He pulled up alongside Nack and urged him to jump onto his bike. Nack did not hesitate, and the moment he landed on Shadow's motorcycle, the one he jumped from began to disintegrate. The parts that flew off hit the remaining GUN bikes and created two very loud crashes. Nack held onto the back of Shadow's bike for dear life as Shadow drove them out of the trees and back into the open. For quite a while, they just followed the tracks and rode into the rising sun.

* * *

**Mystic Ruins**

**6:57 AM**

**Tuesday**

Shadow and Nack left the motorcycle near the train station at Mystic Ruins. With the daylight beginning to get stronger, they would have to find a place to hide. They searched a nearby cliff face for anyplace to hide, which they found in the form of a small cave carved into the rock. Shadow and Nack slowly walked inside the cave, searching for anything that might compromise their situation. Finding the cave to be safe, they walked deeper into the it. Shadow's stomach growled slightly; he hadn't eaten anything since breakfast the other day. He stopped when he was sure no one would be able to see them easily, and sat down next to one of the walls. He leaned his head back and fell asleep almost instantly.

Nack, on the other hand, decided to keep going into the cave. He kept going until he came to the end of the cave: a double-door set. Puzzled, Nack tried to pry the door open with his hands, but to no avail. He tried again, and also failed again. Out of frustration, Nack kicked the door with his foot, only to receive a sharp pain in his toe.

"Ow! Damn door...," Nack mumbled. He returned to where Shadow had dozed off and decided to sit down. His eyes stayed on the mouth of the cave until his eyelids began to get heavy, at which point he dozed off, too.

* * *

**A/N: I'm taking a short break from writing. I promise an update by the end of the week.  
**


	6. Cavemen

**A/N: Sorry for the late update. My computer crashed last week Friday. Well, here it is. Enjoy, if you want.**

**Mystic Ruins, Cave**

**12:34 PM**

**Tuesday**

Nack impatiently paced the cave floor, waiting for Shadow to wake up. Nack himself had woken up a few hours before, and was now merely waiting for Shadow to wake up. His patience began to wear away slowly with each passing minute, each of which passed impossibly slowly to him. He sat down for the fifth time in as many minutes, and waited. There was complete silence in the cave for several more minutes, during which Nack kept his eyes on the mouth of the cave.

Shadow, on the other hand, was completely asleep, seeing as how all the action from the previous day had finally caught up with him. His sleeping form was relaxed, his jacket slightly ruffled, his chest rising slightly with each breath. In his mind, Shadow was dreaming of the outcome that he thought would come out of this little excursion. He would finally be with Maria again... he could see her sapphire eyes shining, her light-colored hair flowing...

"Hey! Shadow! Wake up, already!" Nack shouted. Apparently, his patience had finally been completely worn away. Shadow opened his eyes and scowled. Nack had interrupted one of Shadow's few good dreams, and it was obvious that Shadow was very displeased.

"Come on, Shadow! It's freaking midday! What, were you gonna sleep all day?" Nack scolded.

"Urghh... Midday already?" Shadow groaned.

"Past it, I think," Nack replied. "And I'm goddamn hungry... I haven't eaten anything since yesterday..."

"I don't really need to eat that much," Shadow said. It was true. It was one of the perks of being the Ultimate Life Form. "But we need to concentrate on getting the Emerald."

"Stealing a Chaos Emerald... You're crazy! Maybe I should just leave," Nack complained.

"Go ahead. It's not like you'll get anywhere without your gun or bike, especially since you've been spotted helping me," Shadow said matter-of-factly.

"Whatever," Nack replied. "But if we're going to steal the Emerald, why are we still here?"

"We need to rest first, after a day like that," Shadow answered. "Like you said, we'll need to find a way to get food. After that, I've got a plan for stealing the Chaos Emerald."

"So, what am _I_ getting out of this?" Nack asked.

"Your gun," Shadow replied. He stood. "So... food."

"Oh, how are we going to find it?" Nack said sarcastically. He also stood.

"You might be able to sneak back to the station and steal a few boxes off the freight train when it comes around tonight," Shadow explained.

"And how am I going to do _that_ without being noticed?" Nack challenged.

"Maybe you can hit the midnight express."

"Not again..." Nack groaned.

"Well, I don't really care if you do it or not," Shadow said. "I don't need to eat for a while."

"Fine! I will!" Nack huffed. He stormed out of the cave with his sights set on the train.

"Idiot," Shadow muttered.

--

**Mystic Ruins, Cave**

**1:34 PM**

**Tuesday**

Shadow paced around the cave, thinking about ways he could enter Tail's workshop and steal the yellow Emerald. There was always the old-fashioned way: run really fast, take the Emerald, then leave quickly. But that wouldn't work, because all the Chaos Emeralds that the fox had were locked up somewhere in the basement of his workshop; therefore, there had to be another way. Perhaps he could use Nack as a distraction, and sneak in to get the Emerald...

Shadow's thoughts were interrupted as Nack staggered into the cave with a battered cardboard box with the word "SOAP" stenciled in large letters on it. He looked worn and tired, and his hat was slightly frayed in some places.

"I ran right into the back of the train after it stopped," Nack explained, "and I was able to get my hands on one of these!" He held the soap box up like some prize from an overly hyped competition on TV. He tossed it over to Shadow, who examined it a bit more closely.

"Nack, you do realize that this is a box of soap, right?" Shadow asked.

"What the--?! Soap?!" Nack cried. "I can't eat soap! I've got to go back! Maybe I went in the wrong--"

"That's the wrong train anyway," Shadow interrupted, setting the box on the ground. "The food shipment doesn't arrive until midnight."

"Well, you could've told me that before!" Nack exclaimed.

Shadow sighed and rubbed his temples. A distraction was probably the only thing Nack would be good for when they went after the Emerald. There was also still the question of when they were going to attempt the heist. Night was out of the question, since Tails had recently installed alarms that were set at that time. They couldn't go at mealtimes either, because Tails almost always ate at home. They would have to steal the Emerald sometime when everyone was away...

But when?

"I'm just going to go scavenge something out of the jungle around the mountain," Nack said. With that, he left the cave for the second time that day. From what he said, he probably wouldn't be back for hours, giving Shadow more time to think out his plan. Shadow walked over to the mouth of the cave. He could see Nack already a good distance away, almost at the edge of the jungle he was going to. Shadow also had a good view of Tail's workshop, which was almost directly across from the cave, though a good distance away as well. From his position, Shadow could see that a large, spider-like machine had a pipe leading up to the roof. Taking note of this, he walked back into the cave to bide his time, and wait for Nack.


	7. Mission: Improbable, Pt 1

**A/N: I know this doesn't make up for all the time that there were no updates, but I was separated from the Internet for 4 weeks. So here it is, Ch. 7.  
**

**Mystic Ruins, Cave**

**6:30 AM**

**Wednesday**

Nack had returned around midnight, carrying a pitiful amount of food, given the time that he was away. All he had managed to scrounge up in the wild were a few apples, a tomato, and three berries. Upon his return, Nack had immediately started on the apples, while Shadow merely ate one of the small berries. It also began to rain, at which point Nack and Shadow decided to get some rest.

Early the next morning, it was still raining. Both Shadow and Nack were now awake, as the storm began producing loud thunder. Seeing as they had nothing to do, Shadow decided to tell Nack the plan that he had been thinking over the night before.

"Okay, Nack, here's what we're gonna do," Shadow started. "To get in, we'll need a large distraction outside of the workshop to keep Tails and anyone else who's there busy. Then, we'll need to climb up the pipe on that contraption outside the workshop to the roof. There's a door up there that looks pretty defenseless, giving us a way in. Once inside, I'll look for the Emerald vault while you keep watch and tell me if there's anyone coming our way. After we get what we came for, we'll need to escape back where we came in through. No one will know that we've been there until we're on the other side of the mountain. Got it?"

"Umm... I think," Nack muttered.

"Good, because we're going today," Shadow said.

"What?!" Nack cried, peering out of the cave opening. Outside, it was dark, the sky was covered by thick, gray clouds, lightning was flashing dangerously close to the mouth of the cave, and the rain was almost horizontal. "You'd be crazy to go out in that!"

"That's why we're going in that," Shadow said calmly. He walked over to the mouth of the cave and paused. "You coming?" he called to Nack.

"One question," the weasel said. "What are we gonna use as a distraction?"

"The storm will do fine," Shadow replied.

"How did I get into this mess?" Nack muttered to himself as he followed Shadow out into the gale outside.

--

**Mystic Ruins, outside Tail's Workshop**

**7:32 AM**

After running the gauntlet of the intense storm, Nack and Shadow found themselves at the foot of the hill Tail's Workshop was built on. From where they were, they could see that all the lights around the outside of the workshop were dark. Shadow guessed that probably the power had gone out during the storm. However, another result of the power outage was that the spider-like contraption on the outside of the workshop had stopped spinning, giving Shadow and Nack a chance to climb on it and jump to the roof.

There, they found a small wooden cabin, with a small wooden door-- probably where Tails slept. Shadow tried to peer through the window to see if anyone was inside, but it was too dark to tell. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning hit no more than five feet away from the foot of the hill. Nack jumped in surprise, and the light the bolt made lit up the whole area. Luckily for Shadow, the light revealed that no one was inside the cabin at that time.

Taking this opportunity, he tried the door. It was unlocked, and opened with a quick turn of the knob. Shadow entered, and motioned for Nack to follow. Once inside, Shadow closed the door behind them. Inside the cabin, the duo found themselves in a small room. There were few furnishings; a red rug, a wooden bunk bed against the wall, and a short, squarish dresser of the same material next to it. On top of the dresser were a few pictures of Tails and Sonic in the summer; one showed the two playing beachball on the beach, while another showed Amy chasing after Sonic, who in the picture was only seen as a blur of blue.

Now taking a chance to examine himself and Nack, Shadow found that both of them were dripping all over the floor. However, he didn't count it as very important and continued on. There was a trapdoor in the middle of the room with a small metal handle on top. Shadow pulled on it, lifting the door up and revealing a short set of stairs leading down. Shadow climbed down the stairs quickly, with Nack following along reluctantly, not knowing what could await them downstairs.


End file.
